Reflection on Cambodian History from Ancient Times to the Era of Democratic Kampuchea defends the government and labels Pol Pot, its leader, as a patriot.

While acknowledging that people had died, Khieu Samphan said deliberate mass killings never took place.

"There was no policy of starving the people. There was no policy of mass killings," he wrote.

"The regime always thought about the people's well-being."

Researchers admit that there is not as much evidence against Khieu Samphan as against other leaders, but they say that he was aware of the Khmer Rouge's execution policies and did nothing to stop them.

However, Verges, his lawyer, famous for defending Klaus Barbie, a Nazi war criminal and Ramirez Sánchez, a former left-wing fighter, known as "Carlos the Jackal", claims that his client was not one of the government's policymakers.

"The Khmer Rouge leadership did not resort to persuasion but to coercion, and, eventually, crimes against human beings. Khieu Samphan never took a direct part in these crimes," Verges said in the preface to Khieu Samphan's memoirs, published in 2004.